Open Tracking

01/09/2026

Industry is full of complicated and expensive solutions to what are simple solutions.

We needed a way to move trackers. The timing chip in the tracker - only emits a signal when its moving. Whilst it may seem simple just to shake a tracker to test if its working - when you have 2700 to test, you need a different solution.

There are what is called "Shaker" rigs - designed to shake products almost to destruction.. but the cost even for a small one can quickly run in to many £###x's

So here enters Vibraslim PLATINUM vibration exercise plate - a quality product off ebay. Designed for those looking to loose a few pounds. Stand on it for 10 mins a day and watch the weight disappear.

For us it does the perfect job of shaking the trackers.

We have yet to get a video of anyone in the office trying it out at full tilt. Pretty sure you would loose teeth if on it for 15 mins. If we do get any quality footage of staff using the machine as it was designed for we will be sure to post it here.

30/08/2026

Interesting one today. Aside from the trackers out on ultra running events this weekend and the Thames 200 paddling event https://live.opentracking.co.uk/thames200ultra26/

We have trackers out on a Motorbike Trial event "The Mintex Youth Trophy Trial". The organisers wanted a means to confirm the routes that the participants were taking, so they could review them for the results. But also have a better idea on where participants were on the course.

We have provided our small tracker on a higher frequency than normal. They have been provided with racebelts and clips that we normally use on shorter running events. Its always fascinating to see tracking used in sports that to be honest we didn't forsee.

11/08/2026

We are active over on Linkedin as well. Dare we say conversations can be a little more polite, event organisers are less likely to get people blowing off steam about the wrong brand of cola at a feed station.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-tracking

Conversely there can be a little bit of rainbows and are you not just wonderful. Still we like to interact with many event organisers on that side of social media.

James has just tapped out an article on the economics of running a tracking business. You can find it here (if Facebook lets us link to it)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/economics-running-sports-tracking-business-open-tracking-0hhfe/

James Thurlow (Director Open Tracking) The economics of running a tracking business both fascinate me and scare me with equal measure. Lets start with the context - if we want more of those small trackers we have.

08/08/2026

Centurion Running are out today with the North Downs Way 100 https://live.opentracking.co.uk/NDW100-2026/

RunThrough Trails have the 51k in the Brecon Beacons
https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26rtbrecon51/

Further East we have the Stour Valley Path 100k and 50k
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570349589122&sk=about
https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26svp100/
https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26svp50/

04/08/2026

So what is the mobile coverage like in the Lake District. Well the Lakeland 100 gives us a fair picture. The red dots are where there is no coverage and the blue ones are the live data.

Its worth noting that the trackers do roam across all the UK networks.. and we are only looking to get an insty bit of data out every 60s, not live stream your journey in 4k.

Just add to this at the checkpoints we have readers that pick up the trackers, and bump the pins along. This year all checkpoints had a reader. The noteable places are Buttermere and Mardale. Seathwaite use to be devoid of signal but there is signal now in the Duddon valley. Likewise with Kentmere.

For events looking to use Open Tracking, we often send out a demo tracker which they can take out on the route so they can get a picture like this of where there maybe signal issues.

But increasingly the number of not spots is reducing, and in years to come technology will help us reduce the length of time that a tracker is out of range. More on that another day..

31/07/2026

The new portal just keeps on giving..

If you head over to the tracking pages from the The Montane Lakeland 50 & 100 today, and click on a finisher. There is now a button that you can tap to get a finishers certificate.

https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26lakeland50/
https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26lakeland100/

Click the "download" button and it will produce a PDF for you to print out and frame.

This is for finishers only.

Do wonder if we should have a DNF certificate, that people can put up in sheds to remind them that they need to come back and finish the job off. (James)

29/07/2026

One of the great new features on the new portal is the "Class of 2026". If you head over to https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26lakeland100/ or https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26lakeland50/

And click on the photo icon, it will bring up the photos we took at registration for the Lakeland 100 and 50.

Using the size button you can change the size of the thumbnails. Pretty cool bunch of people. If you are in there, you have something to be proud of.

Want this at your event - give us a shout, keen to help out. More than a dot on a map.

27/07/2026

Wow what a weekend - great to have so many trackers out on events.

A little highlight for us at the Lakeland 100 / 50 was that we came away with every tracker that we took. Small wins, but makes life so much easier for us and organisers.

When you see 2400 trackers out with 2400 individuals all with different plans, and outcomes.. to see all 2400 boxes loaded on to a van just before midday on Sunday, was a little wow.

Its not always possible but just shows that it can be done.

Our top tips.

- Sterile area at finish line, where competitors can get medal / remove tracker before meeting family.
- For retirements, remove trackers at checkpoints at point of retiring.
- Message sent out to participants that they must retire at a checkpoint to hand over their tracker. Its supported events where this is an issue.. people get picked up at random places and head straight home.
- Crew are probably 10-20x more likely to be the ones not returning trackers. Particularly if they have a role mid event and head straight home. Dare we also say, that sometimes there can be a bit of an attitude - I've volunteered, I'll return it when I get time. Just need a mechanism and process to get them back.
- Checkpoints have a process to get retired trackers back to finish. We had one event where the checkpoint manager took 20 trackers home and then went on a cruise for 3 weeks.
- Medical, sometimes it really is totally unavoidable that a tracker goes off to a hospital. Rightly priorities are with the patient. But if possible to get it before they leave, it is often appreciated by family and the competitor - saving them the trouble of having to sort out returns later.

But back to last weekend.. all are back and we are getting ready for next weekend.

Photo No Limits Photography

21/07/2026

Its a big weekend for Open Tracking, we have the Lakeland 100 / 50 with some 2500 trackers out playing in the Lake District.

Add in a Rat Race 100 miler, a Run Through Ultra on the South Downs and Yorkshire Wolds Ultra with UK Ultras. There are more trackers out supporting other events.

But what has slipped in, is a new interface for the tracking platform. You can see it here on the Lakeland 100 and 50
https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26lakeland100/
https://live.opentracking.co.uk/26lakeland50/

Quite a few features that will come alive when the event is running. Importantly this is not just about what it looks like - we are tracking bigger and bigger events.. with the previous version the average event was 2-300 trackers rarely up to a 1000. Now we are reguarly tracking events with 2000 and more participants. We needed a rethink on how to show that many dots on a map.

11/05/2026

How do we do it?

Yesterday we witnessed what has to be the largest single event we have tracked with over 2300 trackers on riders. We used our new smaller OT30 trackers. Crunch is the battery on these little trackers is setup to last 12hrs and the event lasts 12hrs.

What makes this unique is that we dynamically issued all 2300 trackers in just 90 mins. As you can see in the video we had 5 staff scanning either the riders number or the helmet sticker then scan the tracker. This process not only allocated the tracker to the rider but also ran a few checks on the tracker.

We check the battery level on the tracker - as we were pushing the limit, any with less than 95% were put to one side, to either be top up charged or handed to faster riders starting later (was not needed). The scanning also checks to make sure the tracker has sent data in the last 30 mins and finally there are checks on the numbers scanned - is it a bib number or a tracker number..

Its a very efficient process, something some of our customers are starting to do themselves. It is done using our own custom app on commercial Zebra handheld computers - like what you would see a courier use. If for whatever reason the internet connection drops out they will still record the scans and upload when ready.

If an event consistently has say 20% DNS rate over say 5 years. It be fair to provide say 10% less trackers than the entry list. Only works if we can dynamically allocate on the day.

Suffice to say some events have very low DNS rates - usually expensive events where you will find a good number of people with coughs and colds who on any other race day would stay at home. Also team or pairs based events have low DNS rates (e.g. Saunders Mountain Marathon). Cheaper / remote events have higher DNS rates and we have seen it as high as 40%.